Revenant Lover
by merryfortune
Summary: [Magical Realism AU with necromancer!Tsukishima and Jiangshi!Yamaguchi. Warnings for: Death and Implied Domestic Violence between Alisa and her OC boyfriend.] Kei's life was one bad decision after another but he'll never regret his biggest mistake: forgetting to say 'Goodbye' for he has remembered to say 'Hello' which is so much more important.


**Revenant Lover**

 **[AN: Inspired by tumblr user ichigomaniac art and the Necromancer manga.]**

It was never a good idea to fall in love in love with your vassal but Kei's life had always been a long, restless string of bad life decisions.

There was a certain providence in the fall of a sparrow that Kei had been enamoured with; ever since he was a young child. Call it morbid but that's the sort of person he was and always had been. Perhaps, it is no wonder why the events of Kei's life had unfolded like they had. Like a fortune teller's hand; dealing the Fool, the Death, and the Devil all at once.

But most unfortunately, he had also been dealt The Lovers.

Kei was a self-taught. He devoured book after book to develop his talents and he had always been drawn to the eerie talents. He had an affinity for it: spells with bones, hexes with blood, sacrifice for a gain: it all came to him naturally; he had never been proficient with anything _light_ wherein a quibble of words and ink would suffice. There had to be an exchange of life forces for Kei's talents to blossom.

Nowadays, magic was a cluster fuck of different styles and influences. But one thing remained consistent, even with all the changes to tradition that had been rampant for the past two-three decades, was that all magic users have a natural affinity for something. Kei's mother could do extraordinary things with petals and his father had talent with using insects. They hadn't been worried when their younger son began to show talents with arts related to necromancy. They trusted him.

He had a good personality; completely fitted for a necromancer. He was cool and level headed. He didn't take risks. He was of thorough thought. He was suited to many talents but it was fortunate that he had adapted to necromancy. If his elder brother Akiteru had taken to necromancy, then that would be a disaster but thankfully he had not. Akiteru was trusted with his talents. Kei was trusted with his talents. And that was a mistake. Kei was calculating but, as it would turn out. He could not be trusted.

Growing up, Kei had a friend. He had a very good friend. They had met as children and it had been a fated meeting. Kei's friend had a name: loyalty, devotion; Tadashi.

Tadashi was not a strong boy; he never had been and especially not as a child. He had been 'weak'. He attracted predators. It was like they could smell the wounds on him. He had no confidence and terrible self-esteem. People considered his magic a joke. He leaked and bled. Kei couldn't stand it: Tadashi's cry-baby personality. But Kei couldn't stand the bullies more.

So, one day, Kei intervened. He didn't have to but he did. They hadn't been officially introduced to each other, by this point in elementary school. They were classmates. That's all. Barely acquaintances. But they did know each other by reputation and Kei knew those other kids impersonally. Pricks they were. Always had been, always will be. Kei was walking home but, out of the corner of his eyes, just beneath the slash of black where his glasses were, he saw this lame and pathetic kid being pushed to the ground. He was being verbally abused and before an indomitable enemy. For him anyway.

Kei didn't have to stop walking but he did. His back against the sunset and he stepped towards these kids in the park.

'Lame.' he announced.

He wasn't just talking about the bullies but also their prey.

The bullies stopped domineering over their prey and they unfurled back a little bit. Their magic – elemental; fire and ice respectively - were at their ready. They glared at Kei but Kei's cool, sharp gaze was stronger. He was taller and everybody knew he was. The boy who could animate the dead. The boy who could control skeletons. The boy who was death incarnate. Even the bullies' prey stopped and for a single moment, petrified.

'Go do something productive with your life.' Kei said. 'Like fuck off or something.' His hands, firmly in his pockets, slowly slid out and he rolled his hand over. Shards of bone, silver, and crystal glinted evilly in his palm.

The bullies didn't take much time to consider their next move. Fight or flight. They made a wise decision that day to flee. Their victim… however… he had not been so inclined to foresight.

He got up, shakily, awkwardly, then brushed himself off. Kei watched. They maintained eye contact. Kei was wary. Uncertain. The boy grinned and Kei couldn't take his eyes away. The boy had a wondrous grin that was innocent and youthful punctuated by freckles and bright teeth. He came closer.

Against all odds, he chose to 'fight'. He chose to come closer to this unknown boy and talk to him. He looked absolutely awed by Kei.

'Y-You're really cool.' he said.

'Whatever.' Kei grumbled and he kept walking.

'People say you're really scary. But I think that's rubbish. I think you're a nice person.' he continued. He babbled like a brook. Chirpy and refreshing: full of life. 'My name is Yamaguchi Tadashi and you're Tsukishima Kei, right?'

'Right.' Kei replied.

'A-Are we friends now? Because if we're friends, I won't have to worry about bullies. And you're always a lone and if we're friends, you won't have to be alone anymore.' Tadashi jabbered.

'I suppose.' Kei didn't have to the heart to rebuke him. Surely he would leave. All kicked dogs leave eventually.

But Tadashi never left. He consistently came to stay by Kei's side. This was something Kei came to take for granted. He always had a great friend by his side to ease the loneliness of his life. Tadashi was the only person who didn't avoid him overtly. People found him creepy. Kei didn't blame them. He criticised himself for that too, constantly, unbeknownst to Tadashi for Kei came to envy Tadashi.

Tadashi had amulet magic. It was considered a very plain type of magic but just like Kei found providence in the fall of a sparrow, he found providence in this unassuming talent that Tadashi felt bad for. He considered it his biggest 'weakness' when it truth, it was his truest talent and it was very remarkable. Kei just wished that Tadashi could see that.

Tadashi's magic wasn't anything flashy or unusual; it was traditional in the sense that he would create omamori and other little trinkets and charms that were tiny and innocuous. They were very cute and sweet. He could sometimes sway the weather and bless those with good health during flu season. It was very touch and go; mostly the coinciding of coincidences. He couldn't manipulate much through his amulets but Kei would prefer to have had weak magic and talent in something like that than to be good at necromancy.

But Kei could never quite communicate why he saw such beauty in such a talent so he never told Tadashi that he loved to keep his amulets in his pocket, that he thought it was such a wonderful talent. This would come to be Kei's biggest regret. They say you don't know what you have until it's gone and that couldn't be a more horribly true idiom.

Kei never said goodbye that day.

He certainly didn't say it next week, sometime during the funeral. He never attended the funeral. Perhaps, that is when his parents realised their trustful bond with their son had been marred.

What kind of necromancer hadn't experienced a loss before? A loss so dire that it feels as though all life has been drained from the living so they too feel like the dead.

Not Kei. As a young man, of nineteen years, he still had both his parents, all his grandparents, and many other folk in his family were healthy and thriving. No cancers, no accidents, no nothing. He was spoilt really. Spoilt rotten like that for a necromancer.

Tadashi was many things. He was loyal and devoted, caring and loving, he could be nervous and he could be reckless. He had been undeniably reckless that day.

Magic was rarely a precise art form. It was give-and-take; sometimes in equal amounts and sometimes it would just give without explanation, and other times, it would just take and take and take. Tadashi's magic was giving without explanation but his magic did no harm and it did no good. It was neutral unlike Kei's magic which was a rare art from which required absolute precision. His magic was cause and effect; rationality and equivalent exchange.

There are rules but there are exceptions to all rules. Perhaps, Tadashi shouldn't have questioned why but it had been rough, these past few weeks. He and Kei had gone through elementary school, middle school, and high school together. They had always been in the same classes, joint at the hip but now they were adults. Nineteen years old and ready to take on the world. They were attending different universities.

Kei was attending a masterful school for sorcery. His talents could be truly polished there. Tadashi had tried. He had tried to get through the harsh, scornfully judged examinations but he had failed. Miserably. So, he was going to be a 'normal person'. He would become someone who lived without the thrill of adrenaline that came with magic. He had decided he would become a dentist as there was always a need for it. It was good money. Kei liked it. Someone with a bright as smile as Tadashi would be well suited to dentistry. Tadashi liked it. He understood the courses and he had a good personality for it; or so he felt. It was hard to say. After all, what kind of personality did a dentist have classically?

Everyone had hobbies and like most people, Tadashi's hobby was to hone his magic. It seemed like he had mastered it. He would make a little charm, using a button and string as a minimum, then he would infuse it with his magic. A few words, a smile, and sometimes a kiss. That would be enough to create a charm for good health or good grades. But there had to be more to it than that.

Kei's circle of friends was expanding, rapidly, as he was among his 'own kind'. He was meeting people who understood what it was like to grow up perceives as 'eerie' and 'creepy'. He was meeting necromancers and people of similar, seemingly darker magics.

Tadashi's circle of friends had remained unchanged. Kei was central to everybody else. Then, he had a few of their high school friends. He hadn't met anyone at his dentistry school who he had clicked with. But it was early days yet, barely a month in. So, most days spent idle were spent honing his magic.

That tragic night had been splendid. A cool, March evening that seemed to forsake spring. It was sparkling night; the sky was strangely clear and seemingly more astral and celestial and gorgeous than usual. There was something inherently romantic about tonight. Kei hadn't felt it though. He didn't feel much.

Tadashi had wanted to spend that night with Kei. Doing what they always did together: read a book, eat some strawberry shortcake, watch a movie, and just catch up with each other as their lives had become so busy their flat was their sole focal point in their relationships now. Even then, it was easy to become transient.

Then the phone had rung. Before Tadashi had even got a chance to bring up some bonding moments with Kei. Then Kei left. He just excused himself and said in the next half an hour, there would be a special study night for his class that their eccentric teacher puts on annually at the last possible moment for any of her students to attend.

'Bye…' Tadashi mumbled weakly to the flapping door as it slammed shut behind Kei as he hurried out. The tiny flat echoed with the noise of the slam. Tadashi became mutedly.

'Oh…' he mumbled.

He tried to enjoy himself by himself as he had no homework or assignments. For now, he was free from the stressful shackles of education but he couldn't settle down. He didn't want to watch Kei's favourite movies by himself. That was just depressing so he found himself tinkering with his magic.

Tadashi wanted to be stronger. He wanted to be able to do more with his magic. His magic just didn't agree but he poured his very soul into the charms he made that night. That night… his magic just took and took and took. Not just from Tadashi but from Kei, later on, as equivalent exchange because the charms that Tadashi produced that night were utterly unlike the charms he produced normally. The charms he made were powerful.

His magic took so much of himself that there was nothing left in the morning. Just a husk. A shell. A corpse.

It was Kei who found him the following morning. At first, Kei assumed Tadashi had fallen asleep at his desk, upright which wasn't unusual for him if he had had a late night, but there was a smell in the air. A smell Kei was well acquainted with; one he almost didn't notice but Tadashi's room always smelt of vanilla and sometimes incense. Never of death, never of rot or anything similar.

That morning, Kei still didn't say 'goodbye'. He did feel regret. So much regret. It seeped through him, coldly, and it coiled through him and sickened him with a suffocating silence until he broke. Shattered. There wasn't as much crying as he thought there would be. No, no crying at all likely because he had a very dark consolidation.

Kei didn't attend the funeral. He couldn't bring himself to say 'goodbye' when all he wanted was to say 'hello'.

A few weeks passed and it was life was normal. Seemingly normal. Supposedly normal.

The trust was broken.

On the first day of Kei's university classes, he and his classmates were told one thing: "It is a sin to restore life to humans; particularly those whom you love" and then it was explained why. A soul for a soul. A death for a death. But that was just to scare them onto the straight and narrow. Everyone in that room could feel it in their bones that there was a way around that and Kei….

Kei had found that method.

'Greetings, how may I help you?' Kei asked. He asked once. He asked twice. He asked until he developed a reputation.

In a faraway city as fair as a gambler's promise, there lies a lawless district where all lights are dyed crimson. Like blood. If you follow the signs, you will find an alley and when you find that alley, you may find two Japanese young men wearing Chinese clothing. One wears glasses and the other a Taoist talisman across his face. They are unusual to say the least. They're dealers of a peculiar, elicit ware. For the small price of your Qi, they will resurrect a corpse for you.

It doesn't sound like much, does it? A good price, seemingly cheap but it is very, very costly. Commerce thrives off hidden costs. For the purchase of a loved one's return of life, for three years for example, will require three years' worth of Qi in exchange and then some; an unknown extra that Kei pilfered for the sake of what he calls 'tax'. He takes a little bit more than necessary for his own, nefarious purposes.

Click. Clack. Click. Clack.

Frantic, high heeled footsteps as a socialite hurried through seedy streets and navigated her way to the infamous alley where miracles are possible for the right, sinful price. Her expensive, leather handbag is heavy and her silver hair flailed, unfurling in bouncy waves, as she tries to keep her powdered face hidden. A lady like herself, dolled up and fragile, has no busy in the Red-Light District unless she was looking to peddle her virtue.

Eventually, she does find the alley. Dirty, grimy, unassuming. The pavement is cracked and haphazard. The buildings that surround it are dark and abandoned. She catches her breath and crept into the alley cautiously. She passed graffiti – eyes, so many eyes; judging and scorned – and finds herself at a dead end. Nothing. Not even a rubbish bin. There's not litter so it's strangely clean. It's merely unkempt here. She paused. Perhaps she had taken a wrong turn.

She turned her head, the alley way seemed long like a mile. Her fingertips brushed over her cherry red lips in concern and then her gaze returned to what was in front of her. A door. A sepia door that was not for its surroundings as it was nigh see-through and paper-like. It's covered in strange charms in a foreign language. She thinks she knows the language but it is all faded and dirty now so it hides it meaning.

'Hello?' she asked, uncertain. Her voice was not natural for her surroundings. She was a native to another land too. With much hesitance and uncertainty, she goes in for the handle of the door. Her fingers hooked into it and she slid it across. She stepped through the gap and beyond was a dimly lit room. Only a few candles illuminated the eerie room draped with cobwebs and darkness. It was small, Japanese-style but brimming with paraphernalia from all sorts of countries and religions. The most notable thing in the room was a coffin.

'Greetings, how may I help you?' asked a cool voice. Kei.

The socialite stepped back. Her fingers grasped at the door but she couldn't bring herself to leave. She hadn't noticed that in the centre of the room was a low table and two young men were sitting at it. They had been eerily silent and they moved stiffly.

They were both young. The rumours of this place hadn't lied about that.

'I'm here for a resurrection.' the socialite said, very matter-of-fact.

'Then I better turn on the lights.' Kei said. His companion got up and moved stoically around the room. He lit more candles. 'Sorry, my friend Tadashi isn't good with too much light. Now, I am called Kei. And you are… not from around here?'

'No. I'm from the east side, good money.'

'Not riffraff like us?' Kei asked, smarmy. He had a wicked smile. Kei played with amulets between his fingers, rubbing them and moving them across his knuckles. It was hypnotic to watch.

'No. Not riffraff like you.' the socialite said. She spoke uncomfortably.

'So, what are you called? Names have power you know. I don't mind if you give a fake name but it can be… useful.' Kei explained.

'Are Kei and Tadashi fake names?' the socialite inquired.

Tadashi moved the table and beneath it was a huge design on the floor. Kei smiled thinly.

'Most of this is for appearance but it's good to have a designated space for the corpses. Although, I don't always get corpses. I can restore anything to life if everything is preserved enough.'

'Wonderful.' the socialite said.

'Now, I asked you a question. Have you a name or not, old lady?' Kei asked.

'I am not old!' the socialite retorted.

'Hahaha, sure you're not, lady. So, who would you like bought back from your God?' Kei asked and he swivelled around on his heel. He stood on the fringe of the occult design with Tadashi by his side.

The socialite noticed there was something very off about Tadashi but given that she was here to purchase a life, she would not inquire. This was some dodgy dealings.

'My name is Alisa. I am here to buy back by the life of my dear Sweetie. My pet lion cub.' the socialite explained. She opened her handbag and it belched. She turned her nose up at it but Kei and Tadashi were unfazed. 'How much will it cost? Money is no object.'

'You came here because you have the heard the rumours, correct?' Kei asked, haughtily.

'Yes.' Alisa affirmed.

'Then you should know that I'm no robber. I require no monetary fee but I shall require just, a teeny-tiny bit of your soul.' Kei said.

'I thought that was a lie. All rumours ought to be taken with a grain of salt. I assumed that's how much money you rob someone of but I'm glad.' Alisa spoke blankly.

'Is a pet really worth your soul?' Kei asked.

'I - I don't…. Yes. Absolutely.' Alisa stuttered.

'Fascinating.' Kei murmured.

He began playing with the charms and Tadashi moved towards Alisa. She was unnerved. He stank; was vile and putrid. His eyes were ghastly. Hollow.

'Mistress Alisa, allow me to take Young Sweetie then.' Tadashi said and Alisa gave Tadashi her handbag. He was very gentle as removed the albino lion cub from her handbag.

'Ah, a rarity. No wonder it died.' Kei mused.

'Sweetie was a gift. From my boyfriend. I'm doing it for him. He - He would be devastated if his - our - dear Sweetie was to die.' Alisa said.

Tadashi handed Kei the lion cub and Kei inspected it. He found strangulation marks around its limp neck. He handed Sweetie back to Tadashi then continued to fidget with the amulets.

'So, this is standard protocol for a patron but how long would you like Sweetie to live for?' Kei asked, nonchalant.

'I - I don't know… I want Sweetie to grow up big though.'

'Tadashi, do you know how long it takes for a lion to fully mature?' Kei asked.

'Four years for a female, seven for a male.' Tadashi replied.

'Wonderful. Is Sweetie a girl or a boy, I didn't think to check?' Kei asked.

'Sweetie is a boy. My wonderful, big boy.' Alisa cooed.

'Then I shall take seven years of your soul. Now, tell me, Alisa, what type of magic do you practice?' Kei asked. 'The other standard protocol for my practice.'

'I practice weak organic languages. Th-That means I can understand anything spoken regardless of, well, language. Unfortunately, my magic can't translate anything written or acted out. But it does allow me to understand animals hence why my boyfriend wanted mean to have the so-called king of the jungle as a pet.' Alisa explained.

'Interesting.' Kei said flatly.

He continued to toy with the charms he used. Alisa noticed he wore no earrings. He truly was a rebel in the magical community.

'You might feel… a little pinch.' Kei explained. Tadashi placed the lion cub in the centre of the design. He then fetched Kei a bundle of papers: long strips that were written on. Alisa could see the ink stain the back but she couldn't make out anything distinct from it.

Kei spread the papers through his fingers and thrust out his arm. The papers floated briefly and then they were controlled precisely. Each paper ended up at different points of the pentagram-like design on the floor. There was a dramatic pause and then the shadows from around the room stirred wildly like the souls of the damned.

Sweetie meowed and flexed his paws. He shone with a white-silver light that rose through his fur and skin. Alisa choked and she clasped at her throat. A noise like a bone being snapped echoed through the room. Slowly, the light turned to a brilliant purple-black that was as deep as the night.

Alisa's breathing became ragged. Spittle flecked her mouth and she was livid. Her head pounded and the smallest noise made her want to buckle over in frustration.

Sweetie drew nearer to her, curiously, and seeing Sweetie's open eyes lively once more soothed Alisa. Her pain grew dull. She crouched down and softened. She scooped up her oversized kitten and cuddled with him. He was warm and soft. She could see him breathe and could feel his heartbeat.

'What happened?' Alisa asked desperately.

'Equivalent exchange. Seven years from you; seven years for Sweetie. What? Did you think that I would sacrifice my own soul for the riffraff who can't even keep their priorities straight? It's a sin, you know; resurrecting the dead. Even if it is just an overgrown cat.' Kei said bawdily.

Alisa fumed. Ridiculed. 'I - I, that's not what… I suppose I shall just take Sweetie and leave.'

'Good.' Kei stated.

'A-And, it's funny you should say that. Isn't it? A necromancer telling people resurrection using the soul is wrong. And you tell me it's a sin for me to have Sweetie back when - when, if I am right then your friend Tadashi is utterly abhorrent!' Alisa shouted.

She stormed off in absolute tizz.

'Stay safe!' Kei yelled out after her but Alisa didn't need to be told twice. They both knew when she returned to her upper east side manor, she would enter a territory far more dangerous than the city's Red-Light District.

Kei turned back to Tadashi. 'Hypocrites, aren't we?'

'Yes.' Tadashi agreed with an even voice.

'We tell people it's a sin but do it ourselves. They who have their loved ones returned cite us as disgusting.'

'Yes.' Tadashi agreed.

'But I don't regret.' Kei said.

'Thank you.' Tadashi replied.

Kei lifted the talisman off Tadashi's face. His freckles and his smile unfettered even in death. Kei took a breath.

'If only we could make you less obvious.' Kei said.

'Yes.' Tadashi agreed.

 _If only I could make you more human again_ , Kei pondered and he caressed the side of Tadashi's face. He was deathly cold. But Kei didn't mind. Not anymore. Not for a long time. It was a sick song and dance. Tadashi had died when he was nineteen. Kei was twenty-four now; Tadashi seemingly aged. They had plenty of customers. Kei, although callous, couldn't bring himself to pilfer more than a few months from his customers' Qi. He wanted it to come from himself so one day he and Tadashi could 'meet in the middle'.

Kei pressed a kiss unto Tadashi's lips. He closed his eyes and for a moment. They were lovers. For that single moment, they were two men in love. Beneath it all, that's all that Kei wanted. He didn't want to take Tadashi for granted any longer. That's why he snatched his body and they stole away in the middle of the night: necromancer and familiar into an unknown realm wherein they could make a living for themselves, peddling their unethical miracles.

Necromancy was a depressing art. It was too much. It required a certain personality to wield it and there were boundaries and limits on everything. It would be an unforgivable evil without these moral guidelines. And there's no wonder why. It hadn't been mentioned on Kei's first day of university but the traveller who returns from the land unknown comes back very much changed. Scarred and rattled. Almost a different person: same face, same personality, a seemingly new trait.

The art of necromancy can't return the Qi of a soul. It can give it enough Qi to function but there is nothing more necromancy can do so the Qi is distorted and unnatural for the body. This results in a peculiar anomaly with the resurrected person.

An ugly trait rears its head and corrupts. Be it passion, monopolisation, the desire to protect: it corrupts the corpse and changes the revenant soul for the worst. Kei has seen this many times in his career as an underground necromancer. Death breeds more death. He didn't even consider Tadashi to be the exception to the rule.

For Tadashi, the trait he 'gained' was loyalty. He already had excessive loyalty in life but in death, it was far, far worse and so much more self-destructive. Kei doesn't even want to know what would happen to him if for some reason Tadashi's trait was to be questioned or put to the test. He has a firm belief though that if someone were to try and tear Tadashi's loyalty, it would result in a very bloody murder but Kei is unsure if it will be his head decapitated or someone else's. It could go either way but he has reasonable certainty in the former.

Again, much like if it were a fortune teller's hand dealing the events of Kei's life, the cards were irrevocably be the reversed cards: two of cups, five of cups, nine of cups, that was Kei's life. It was immoral celebration of love of loss. That was Kei's fate for he had desecrated the natural by bending the order of life and death to his whims; to his customer's whims.

'Do you love me, Tadashi?' Kei asked.

'Yes, Tsuki.' Tadashi replied earnestly. He smiled; utter adoration upon his face.

But was that him truly talking or was that his amplified trait?

Kei doesn't know and, as he pressed a second kiss unto Tadashi's lips, he doesn't think he wants to know for fear of shattering his beautiful, blissful ignorance. Once more, for a solitary moment, they were an imitation of lovers. Yet there's so much Kei would change if he were given the chance but now, he would be thankful he had this second chance at all. This time around there would be no need to say 'Goodbye'.

'I love you too, Tadashi.' Kei said, softly and his own voice was spurned with treacherous admiration.

Necromancy was an utter sin. And Kei was a perfect vessel for its immorality.


End file.
